• BT Group confirmed its Conferencing services were targeted
• Black Basta took responsibility for the attack
• The group claims to have stolen hundreds of gigabytes of sensitive information

British telecommunications behemoth BT Group confirmed that it was recently targeted by the ransomware actors known as Black Basta.

The group targeted its Conferencing business division, and even forced it to shut down parts of its infrastructure.

The results of the attack are up for debate, however, since BT claimed very little damage was done, with Black Basta saying the exact opposite.

Prolific player

"We identified an attempt to compromise our BT Conferencing platform. This incident was restricted to specific elements of the platform, which were rapidly taken offline and isolated," BT told BleepingComputer in a statement. "The impacted servers do not support live BT Conferencing services, which remain fully operational, and no other BT Group or customer services have been affected."

But Black Basta begs to differ. The group claims to have stolen 500GB of sensitive data in the attack, including financial and organizational data, “users and personal docs,” NDA agreements, confidential information, and then some. To support their claims, the group released document screenshots, folder listings, and more. It also said it would be leaking the files soon, if the company does not pay the ransom demand.

We don’t know how much money Black Basta is asking for.

"We're continuing to actively investigate all aspects of this incident, and we're working with the relevant regulatory and law enforcement bodies as part of our response," the BT Group spokesperson concluded.

Black Basta is currently one of the biggest ransomware threats out there, according to the FBI and CISA. In March this year, the two agencies issued a joint report stating that in its first two years of existence the group targeted more than 500 organizations all over the world.

Among the victims are organizations in 12 out of 16 critical infrastructure sectors, including the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) Sector. Some of Black Basta’s victims include Hyundai Europe, Capita, The American Dental Association, Yellow Pages Canada, Dish, and many others.

Black Basta most likely emerged after the downfall of Conti, another major ransomware player until the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Via BleepingComputer

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Samsung’s Ultra phones are always pricey propositions. After all, they sit at the top of the Galaxy S line, and that’s Samsung’s top non-foldable smartphone series.

So outside of the best foldable phones there aren’t many handsets that cost much more than a Galaxy S Ultra, and the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is unlikely to be any exception to that.

But you probably guessed this phone would be expensive, the real question is exactly how much it might cost. For that, we don’t yet have a definitive answer, but thanks to leaks and previous pricing we can make some predictions.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra price predictions

One thing we can say almost for certain is that the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra won’t cost any less than the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. So the best case scenario is probably it retaining the current model’s price.

That would mean a starting price of $1,299.99 / £1,249 / AU$2,199, but you can see full pricing for the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s various configurations in the chart below.

The prices in that chart are a best case scenario then, but there’s a high chance that the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra will actually cost more than that.

While we haven’t heard any exact prices yet, we have heard that this phone will probably use a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. And that in itself could mean a higher price, as Qualcomm said this chipset would be more expensive than the previous model, which is used by the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Tipsters have got a bit more specific, with one saying that the Snapdragon 8 Elite costs around 20% more, and another saying this chipset is roughly $40 (around £30 / AU$60) more expensive.

In which case, if Samsung passes that price increase on to buyers, then the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra could start at more like $1,340 / £1,280 / AU$2,260. However, there are a lot of other potential variables that could affect the price too.

On the positive side, Samsung sells so many phones that it might have been able to work out a favorable deal with Qualcomm, reducing the price per unit of the chipset.

But on the other hand, inflation could also push the price up, as could the various improvements we’re expecting in the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Indeed, we've elsewhere heard that the price to produce the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has apparently risen by $110 (around £85 / AU$170), making a price rise "unavoidable."

Still, however much it costs you could be getting a significantly better phone for your money than you would with the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Beyond the likely presence of a far more powerful chipset, leaks also point to an upgraded ultra-wide camera, more RAM, a bigger screen, and a refined design.

So the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra specs could be quite an upgrade, and may go some way towards justifying any price increases.

Still though, this is sure to be an expensive phone, and right now if we had to guess, we’d say it’s likely to cost even more than its predecessor, albeit probably not too much more.

We should find out in January, as the Samsung Galaxy S25 series release date is rumored to be January 22.

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Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,000 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1046) - hint #1 - Vowels

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1046) - hint #2 - repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1046) - hint #3 - uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1046) - hint #4 - starting letters (1)

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1046) - hint #5 - starting letters (2)

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1046) - the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1046, are…

• AGING
• BICEP
• CLOVE
• SPILL

Small spelling differences often catch us out in the UK (where I am) when doing US-based puzzles like Quordle – and it was almost my nemesis today when I plumped for the highly unlikely AXING instead of AGING.

BICEP I should have seen quicker, not least because C and P are unusual, but also because I love listening to a bit of the Northern Irish duo Bicep when I’m down the gym working on my biceps in an attempt to curb ageing or aging.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Daily Sequence today (game #1046) - the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1046, are…

• GULCH
• ANGST
• VIDEO
• WOOER

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1045, Wednesday 4 December: JUDGE, GIVER, GNASH, CLOAK
• Quordle #1044, Tuesday 3 December: FUDGE, THICK, CRANK, STASH
• Quordle #1043, Monday 2 December: TROPE, HOVER, SAUNA, SHAPE
• Quordle #1042, Sunday 1 December: NAIVE, CIRCA, STEAD, MICRO
• Quordle #1041, Saturday 30 November: MAMMA, SNUCK, CRYPT, TAROT
• Quordle #1040, Friday 29 November: JOIST, DROOL, DUSKY, GLIDE
• Quordle #1039, Thursday 28 November: GRADE, WORRY, NOISE, DAISY
• Quordle #1038, Wednesday 27 November: HEART, ROGUE, INEPT, UTILE
• Quordle #1037, Tuesday 26 November: PRIED, FAINT, HURRY, WOOER
• Quordle #1036, Monday 25 November: NUDGE, SNOOP, SHACK, DRYLY
• Quordle #1035, Sunday 24 November: CLOTH, CLAMP, PETTY, CHEST
• Quordle #1034, Saturday 23 November: AVOID, PLANT, FILET, TWIRL
• Quordle #1033, Friday 22 November: CUTIE, ALOOF, ETUDE, SILLY
• Quordle #1032, Thursday 21 November: RABBI, EAGER, COUGH, BRASH
• Quordle #1031, Wednesday 20 November: MINTY, TOPAZ, BRUSH, LAPEL
• Quordle #1030, Tuesday 19 November: NINJA, PENCE, PAINT, FOIST
• Quordle #1029, Monday 18 November: ASCOT, BRINK, WEIRD, HOMER
• Quordle #1028, Sunday 17 November: STATE, BRAWN, SWORE, URBAN
• Quordle #1027, Saturday 16 November: NOTCH, BENCH, BUSED, FOUND
• Quordle #1026, Friday 15 November: PURER, TRUSS, TORCH, FORUM

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #277) - hint #1 - today's theme

NYT Strands today (game #277) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• WIFE
• GRAY
• ROOTS
• DRAY
• TASK
• TUBE

NYT Strands today (game #277) - hint #3 - spangram

NYT Strands today (game #277) - hint #4 - spangram position

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #277) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #277, are…

• ANGEL
• GRIFFIN
• DRAGON
• STORK
• BUTTERFLY
• FAIRY
• SPANGRAM: WINGED THING

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

We all have our quirks, and one of mine is that I suffer from mild entomophobia (fear of flying insects), so I found today’s Strands a tiny – emphasis on the word tiny – bit triggering. My first thought was that this was another air travel theme, and it took me a hint before I realized it was a different variety of wings we were looking for.

It’s not entirely pleasing that the puzzle was made up of a mixture of both real and fantastical WINGED THINGs – the DRAGON has little in common with a BUTTERFLY (imagine, if you will, Game of Thrones with butterflies instead of dragons; yeah, it doesn't really work, does it?).

Anyway let's not discuss wings any further or I might faint.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday, 4 December, game #276)

• GRAVE
• ACUTE
• TILDE
• UMLAUT
• CEDILLA
• CIRCUMFLEX
• SPANGRAM: DIACRITICS

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #543) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• APPLE
• LIME
• YELLOW
• FACE
• NOSE
• FRONT
• RHINE
• AMAZON
• SURFACE
• GIFT
• ORACLE
• BRIM
• INSTINCT
• INTUIT
• OUTSIDE
• FLAIR

NYT Connections today (game #543) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• Yellow: Natural gift
• Green: Outsiders
• Blue: Silicon Valley
• Purple: Think like a rock

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #543) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: APTITUDE
• GREEN: EXTERIOR
• BLUE: TECH COMPANIES
• PURPLE: __STONE

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #543) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #543, are…

• YELLOW: APTITUDE FLAIR, GIFT, INSTINCT, NOSE
• GREEN: EXTERIOR FACE, FRONT, OUTSIDE, SURFACE
• BLUE: TECH COMPANIES AMAZON, APPLE, INTUIT, ORACLE
• PURPLE: __STONE BRIM, LIME, RHINE, YELLOW

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 3 mistakes

Today's lesson from NYT? Don't ignore what's in FRONT of your FACE.

I got BLUE first today, but it cost me a mistake. My first thought whenever I see the word APPLE is the popular purveyor of laptops and phones. However, seeing it alongside LIME, I initially wondered if I should be considering pies — there's also FACE Pie, but where is the pesky fourth word? Intuit doesn't fit with pies but they are the company behind QuickBooks, so maybe this is a tech answer after all — sometimes the obvious answer is the correct one.

It took me three attempts to get GREEN — mainly overthinking that I was looking for words connected to boxes or packaging. From here I used my natural GIFT for random guesswork to land YELLOW and shamefully clicked on the remaining four tiles without knowing what the theme was — despite RHINEstone Cowboy being one of my favorite songs. Not my finest 15 minutes.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, 4 December, game #542)

• YELLOW: STEER DIRECT, GUIDE, LEAD, SHEPHERD
• GREEN: THINGS WITH NEEDLE/S COMPASS, PINE TREE, SEWING KIT, TURNTABLE
• BLUE: FIGURES IN GREEK MYTH ATLAS, ECHO, HELEN, PAN
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR LAVATORY CANDLE, JOHNSON, LOOFAH, TOILETRIES

• AWS unveils Automated Reasoning checks
• New tool will look to cut down on AI hallucinations by checking responses against customer data
• Customers will be presented with AI responses to see how accurate they are

With businesses increasingly using AI tools for their key processes and tasks, hallucinations are proving to be a growing challenge.

To try and tackle this, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a new tool to tackle hallucinations.

Revealed at its AWS re:Invent 2024 event, the new Automated Reasoning checks system looks to cut down on potentially damaging errors caused by hallucinations, which could see businesses face security risks or financial losses.

An end to AI hallucinations?

At its simplest level, hallucinations are when an AI system or service behaves incorrectly, or becomes unreliable, often due to issues with errors in the data it has been trained on.

Described by the company as "the first and only generative AI safeguard that helps prevent factual errors due to model hallucinations", AWS' Automated Reasoning checks look to solve this by cross-checking the responses generated by a model against information provided by the customer. If it can't determine if the answer matches up exactly, the response gets sent back to the model for checking.

Available as part of Amazon Bedrock Guardrails, the company's system for keeping AI models accurate and reliable, the new checks will also attempt to see how the model came up with its answer, and if it deems it to be erroneous, will compare to the customer's information.

It will then present its answer alongside the initial response from the model, meaning customers can see the possible gap between the truth and the response, and tweak their model accordingly.

AWS gave the example of a healthcare provider using the tool to make sure customer enquiries about specific policies are given accurate answers.

"Over time, as generative AI transforms more companies and customer experiences, inference will become a core part of every application," said Dr. Swami Sivasubramanian, vice president of AI and Data at AWS.

"With the launch of these new capabilities, we are innovating on behalf of customers to solve some of the top challenges, like hallucinations and cost, that the entire industry is facing when moving generative AI applications to production.”

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• Latest SMS scam claims that your Netflix account has been suspended
• Links to a fake Netflix login screen that will steal your information
• Netflix will never request your personal information in a text message

If you’ve recently received an SMS about your Netflix account being suspended, chances are it’s a scam. Fraudsters are targeting phone numbers in 23 countries with a new text message campaign, trying to swindle Netflix users out of their account credentials and payment information.

With more than 280 million paid subscribers worldwide, it’s no surprise that scammers would use Netflix as the hook in a phishing scheme. Even if the fraudulent message is sent out with a scattergun approach, there’s a good chance that many of the recipients will have a Netflix account – and potentially be tricked into parting with their personal information.

According to screenshots we’ve seen, there are a few variations of the fake SMS, including versions in several different languages. Each text message (see below) has the same basic structure: it claims to be from Netflix and states that there’s been an issue processing the subscription payment for your account. It then asks you to update your details and shares a URL.

If you click on the link, it will take you to a fake sign-in page which is designed to look convincingly like the real Netflix website. Enter your details here and you’ll be handing them over to fraudsters, who can use them to access your Netflix account. With these details, certain scammers may try to sell your account on the dark web.

The scam also goes a step further. The next screen shows a warning message claiming that your account is temporarily suspended due to a payment issue. It then asks you to make a payment using a credit or debit card. Do this and the scammers will have your card details. The scam also gives you the option to pay using a Netflix gift card, which would give the value of that card to the fraudsters.

How to keep your Netflix account secure

Like most phishing scams, the Netflix SMS con relies on a few factors to trick you into parting with your personal information. The text message and website look real enough that people might give it their attention. On top of that, the account suspension alert is designed to create a sense of urgency.

For many users, losing Netflix account access to due to a missed payment would be a serious issue. A sense of panic, as well as a desire to resolve the problem quickly, could cause people to act without thinking twice, giving their sensitive personal information to fraudsters even if alarm bells should be ringing.

Netflix accounts are particularly vulnerable to phishing attacks as Netflix doesn’t offer two-factor authentication. That means anyone with your username and password will be able to sign in to your account. Because of this, you need to be vigilant about messages claiming to be from Netflix.

Netflix has a dedicated article about phishing emails and texts on its website. It says, “If you get an email or text message (SMS) asking for your Netflix account email, phone, password, or payment method it probably didn't come from Netflix.”

Users need to be especially careful when it comes to clicking links. Netflix says, “If the text or email links to a URL that you don't recognize, don't tap or click it. If you did already, do not enter any information on the website that opened.”

If you’re ever in doubt, the safest thing to do is navigate directly to Netflix.com and sign in there, to check the status of your account. If you believe your account has been compromised, you should change your password. You can also sign out of unrecognized devizes. Netflix has more information about how to keep your account secure here.

If you do receive an SMS or email which you believe to be a scam, you should forward it to phishing@netflix.com, then delete the message.

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